Herbert Graves Jr., 65, was found dead at his home on Museum Road near Greensburg, St. Helena Parish, after family members checked on him following several days without contact. He died of a gunshot wound to the head; a door to the residence was ajar and his truck was missing. An autopsy confirmed the death was a homicide.

Graves had been out on bond after an August arrest on human trafficking and kidnapping charges involving a juvenile and had attended court days before his death. Investigators later arrested Gene Allen Rawls, described as a friend and at one time possibly a roommate who had been working on Graves’s property. Authorities say an argument allegedly escalated and Rawls shot Graves while he slept, then fled in Graves’s truck; Rawls was taken into custody after driving that truck to a meeting with investigators and was charged with murder and theft. The Sheriff’s Office indicated the killing did not appear related to Graves’s pending criminal case.

If anyone knew Graves, Rawls, or saw the truck in the days before the discovery, please share what is known.